How I Met Your Mother: "Band or DJ?" Recap

This first episode back from the winter break deals with the initial planning stages of Barney and Robin’s wedding [which will take place on May 25, 2013!]. It also, as it turns out, is a great opportunity to address Ted’s feelings about the entire situation. Though Ted jumps right into helping plan the wedding – thoroughly irritating Lily, who had already named herself planner of the wedding – we later realize that he is not as okay with the wedding as he wants everyone to believe.

Anyway, in addition to the beginning stages of wedding planning, Robin takes Barney to meet her father – who, as we all know, has a repuation for being… rude. Though her dad turns out to have mellowed out a bit [thanks to his recent marriage, of which Robin had no idea], he disapproves of Barney’s blonde hair [because no real man has blonde hair!!], among other things, and refuses to give Barney his permission to marry Robin.

Barney takes matters into his own hands and dyes his hair black. He then tries to persuade Robin’s dad to let him marry Robin, to no avail. Eventually, Robin gets frustrated with all the secrets her dad has kept from her over the past few months [though he argues that it’s her own fault – after all, he’s been updating his Facebook page!] and tells him that he doesn’t care whether they have his permission or not. In the end, the two reconcile [as much as can be expected from her dad, anyway] and he agrees to attend the wedding, give his blessing, and dance ONE dance with Robin [as long as his wife can sing the song – and it’s one of his choosing].

During all this, as mentioned, Ted and Lily compete over whether or not Robin and Barney should have a live band [Lily’s wishes] or a DJ [Ted’s idea]. At the end of the episode, we learn that both are so concerned about being in charge of planning the wedding because they have ulterior motives. Lily reveals that she sometimes wishes she wasn’t a mom anymore – and Ted, of course, confesses that he is bothered to realize that he’s about to lose Robin for good… to Barney the Playboy, of all people.

Fortunately, once the two confess to their problems, they seem to be okay – and Ted relents on the DJ topic once Robin tells him that she’d prefer a band. At this point, Future Ted then tells the audience that the band they hire will cancel last minute. However, remember the woman Ted dated several seasons ago that had a roommate – who we learned was going to eventually be Ted’s wife? Well, Ted ran into her and her family on the subway a couple of days before Robin and Barney’s wedding, shortly after the band they hired cancelled on them. Ted then reveals that his future wife was a member of the new band his ex-girlfriend contacted for the replacement.

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Next week: “Ring Up!” will air Monday, January 21, 2013 at 8/7pm on CBS.

Synopsis: Barney believes it would be in Ted’s best interest to continue dating his much younger, much more uninhibited girlfriend, despite having very little in common with her. Meanwhile, Robin adjusts to the powerful dynamic of wearing an engagement ring.